WREN & SWAN

Like the beautiful colors of the rainbow, the green and yellow combination of her dress made her silhouette so striking I wanted very much for her to come closer so I could see this beauty closely, as the music wore on I knew I had to move closer if I would ever get the opportunity to see her face and in that moment she turned and our eyes met, and I quickly turned away. But the harmony of my heart beat needed a minute to get back in rhythm, boy! Her dark eyes were subtle yet striking, I felt she saw me.

That’s how my journey to be with Swan began. My days were filled with the thought of her and the music inside of me burst with rhythm and blues for the Swan of my life. From passing by and staring, I got close enough to mutter a hello, until I could smile and say hello without fainting, with little confidence I was able to move from hello to a few lines of conversation without skipping a heartbeat…I knew I was becoming a man.

After many days of “muscle” building I was able to invite Swan to a party at our East side bar, as the evening went by with many dancing and coupling around the DJ tuned up the beat and the sing along began.  When it was time for karaoke, I persuaded Swan to join me as we sang in perfect unison; we gave the other love birds a run for their money.

Wren and Swan became the love birds of the wild, I start humming and she gives words to the sound and music is born.

Life in the wild was everything I could ever dream, until Mrs Ekpo came for us and moved us to Lagos, the “city of dreams” she called it.

 Surprisingly our arrival was heralded with a warm welcome, the whole family and relatives were excited to have us and even had a naming ceremony for us.That’s where Hannah gave us the name “Wren & Swan” they catered to our every need, breakfast in bed while giving us the room overlooking the garden. Life was good and boring being confined to this little cage, but our music never stopped.

One fateful day, several weeks into our arrival while we were napping in our cage Udeme came and opened the cage attempting to pick to pick one of us, we scampered wildly resisting her, but she over powered us and took Swan, I still hear her desperate pleas to Udeme and her voice screaming my name “Wren” but I couldn’t help her, every attempt to get out was rebuffed by the iron bars. She took my Swan for a bath even at her resistance. Who bathes a Bird for crying out loud???After the shower Swan died. “And my music was gone, my friends heart ceased, my love withered from Udeme’s ignorance they said”.Udeme’ sobriety was too late.  Each day was a struggle, no one to share or soothe my pain and my melody stopped, yet they kept checking why I wasn’t chirping, “of course I’m not a solo artist people”I would reply. Well, after many days of the loss, I was quietly staring into space seeking for comfort, when Junior’s football, strayed to my cage as it normally does, but this time around even though the contact was slight, that was all my broken heart needed and I passed unto glory… And I bid the Ekpo’s farewell unceremoniously.